Ten Reasons Why I Love Goodreads

If you don’t know, Goodreads is a site for all of us bibliophiles out there. I found out about Goodreads back in 2012 through one of Elle Fowler’s Glitterature videos, and I signed up immediately. It’s a place where we can share all of the bookish love, and here are ten reasons why I love this website.

1. Reading Challenges

Goodreads offers reading challenges for its members, where you can choose how many books you’d like to aim to have read by the end of the year. This is one of my favourite features from the site, as I love working towards a goal I’m comfortable with. It lets you know percentage wise how you’re getting on and even lets you know how many books you are ahead or behind. This year I set my challenge to 50 books, which is 20 more books than last year’s challenge. So far it’s going pretty well but I’m in a bit of a reading slump at the moment, and it’s taking me a while to get through the book I’m reading (not for lack of liking it, just can’t seem to concentrate). Thankfully, I know I’m already 3 books ahead as it stands so I don’t feel worried yet.

2. Star Ratings

The Goodreads site allows its members to rate the books from 1 to 5 stars, with just1 being disliked and 5 stars being loved. I think this is a great feature as I can get a quick understanding about how many people enjoyed the book. I do take it with a pinch of salt because I know everyone can have different opinions and that (excuse the expression) one man’s trash is another ones treasure. I do tend to find I will like books more if they’re over 3.5 stars, but there are books that have that rating that I didn’t like that much.

3. Reviews

Along with the star rating, a member of Goodreads can submit a review about a book they’ve read. I quite like this option because I have found quite a few bloggers through this, and also it’s a great way of hearing those people’s thoughts that don’t seem to like a book. I find that Goodreads holds more reviews than say Amazon, and if I’m in a bookstore thinking about reading a book I might scan through these to get a generalisation of what people thought.

4. Ability to scan books

One thing that stood out to me is that I can scan books to instantly find the book I’m looking for. This is extremely useful so that I can quickly see what the ratings are, or if any of my friends have read them. It also means I can find the exact edition of the book I have in my hands too.

5. Bookshelves

A great aspect of the Goodreads site is the inclusion of a shelving system, which means that you can organise all of the books that you come across on the site. There are shelves for read books, currently reading, and to be read books. There’s also a feature where you can add your own books, for example, review copies or even a shelf dedicated to books with great book boyfriends. I like that I can see how many books I’ve read. You also have the chance to update the site by adding how many pages you’ve read, which will also tell you what percentage you’re up to. This is fun because you can see either how quickly you’ve read it and also can add little notes about your thoughts at that point in the book.

6. Friends

I really enjoy being able to add my friends to this site, as I can then see how they’re getting on with their reading challenges. I could also recommend books to them, see how they rate books, and also keep track of what they’re currently reading. I’ve found some really good books this way, and I may not have stumbled across them otherwise.

7. Listopia

Lists are a fun aspect to the site, you can pretty much find anything here. I once searched ‘books with teenage pregnancy’ *don’t ask*, and through that I found one of my favourites Trouble by Non Pratt, and also How To Love by Katie Cotugno. In this feature you can also find lots of discussions and debates, including things like bookish pet peeves. I could spend ages scrolling through this part of the site. It’s definitely a fun thing to join in with.

8. Quotes

Goodreads has a feature called ‘Quote of the Day’, which – as it says on the tin – means that they reveal a new quote each day. I have these emailed to me as I really enjoy seeing them, and I also make a note of my favourites so I can read through them at a later date. Sometimes they’re inspirational, and sometimes they’re just plain funny.

9. Recommendations

This feature I think is the most useful on the site, and the place where I found quite a lot of great books. These books go along the lines of ‘if you liked this, you’ll like this’ and it’s perfect. Also, your friends and strangers can recommend books to you, and I also get emails such as ‘April releases by authors you’ve read’, which I may not have known otherwise. Fantastic!

10. On the go!

My absolute favourite thing about Goodreads is that I can take it anywhere, because there is an app for the site. Love this, especially as I mentioned earlier because I can scan books in stores to either add them to my ‘to be read’ shelf and check out what ratings they have.

I’d love to hear if you like Goodreads too, and what you love about it. Also, if you’d like to add me as a friend on Goodreads you can find my profile here! You can send me lots of recommendations and see how I’m getting on with my reading challenge!